On Friday May 3rd the Kenedy Lions hosted the Ben Bolt Badgers the district 32-A champion in a playoff warm up game.

Rolie Zepeda would get the start on the mound for the Lions and pitch 6 innings surrendering 1 earned run in the first inning while giving up 3 hits total.

He also struck out 5 while walking 6. Bryant Tiemann would pitch the 7th inning giving up 1 earned run on 2 hits while striking out 1 in his relief appearance.

The Lions would match the Badgers run in the first with 2 of their own.

Then take a 4-1 lead in the 3rd. A 6 run 4th would blow the game open and make it 10-1. The final score would end up 10-2 and produce the Lions 22nd win of the season.

Leading the way at the plate for the Lions was Isaac Cruz who went 4for4 with 3 runs scored and 3 rbi’s.

His brother Dominic Cruz went 4for5 with 2 runs scored and 1 rbi.

Rolie Zepeda went 2for4 with 1 run and 1 rbi.

Jacob Asebedo went 1for3 with a run scored. Bryant Tiemann and Kris Bryan both went 1for4 to round out the hitting for the Lions.

On Saturday May 4th the Lions traveled to Comfort to play the district 27-2A champion Bobcats so it would seem like a bi-district series.

Taking the hill for the Lions was Dominic Cruz who would pitch 5 innings and leave with a 5-3 lead as he struck out 10 while walking 4 and giving up 3 hits.

All of Dominic’s runs were unearned as they were on scored on errors. Tiemann would pitch a scoreless 6th inning and Isaac Cruz would pick up the save in the 7th pitching a scoreless inning.

The Lions would be down 3-1 after the second inning and would not take the lead until the 5th inning as they would get a 4 run inning as Javier Hernandez, Zepeda, Dominic, and Isaac would all score as the Lions would get 3 hits and take advantage of a bad throw to get Isaac stealing.

The Lions would add 2 more runs in the top of the 7th as Eddie Villarreal would hit one off the yellow tubing on the right center field fence and get a stand up triple.

Villarreal would score on a pass ball and JD De Los Santos would score on the double steal and some bad throws by the Bobcats.

The game would end up 7-3 and produce the Lions 23rd win of the year. Leading the way for the Lions was Javier Hernandez who went 2for2 with a walk and a run scored with 1 rbi.

Villarreal would go 2for3 with a triple and a run scored with 1 rbi.

Isaac Cruz would go 2for4 and score a run and drive one in. JD De Los Santos and Dominic Cruz both went 1for4 with a double.

Coaches said it was good to see some good pitching before the playoffs.

The Lions will next play Center Point in the second round area matchup where they will put their 23-4 record on the line.

The Kenedy Lions baseball team will face Center Point in a “best of three” area championship series at Southside High School on Thursday, May 9.

The first game will start at 7 p.m. Game 2 will happen at same location on Saturday, May 11 at 1 p.m. If necessary, Game 3 will start at same location 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 2.